Chrysler to Go Full Electric, Will No Longer Offer Internal Combustion Vehicles
Automaker Chrysler just announced plans to go completely electric by 2028, anticipating the release of its first electric vehicle by 2025.
Chrysler announced the plans along with a new AI-enabled vehicle system powered by a battery that the company says can travel 350 to 400 miles per charge, as The Associated Press reported.
Chrysler is part of Europe’s Stellantis, which last month announced a new strategy to embed AI-enabled software into millions of vehicles across its 14 different brands. This could gain Stellantis $22.6 billion in annual revenue by 2030.
This is all part of the race among automakers to produce more completely electric and hybrid cars that also have more autonomous driving features. Overall, this would begin shifting cars away from gasoline-powered engines.
As one of the main American brands of Stellantis, Chrysler will be on the front lines of this change in the auto industry in North America.
“Our brand will serve at the forefront as Stellantis transforms to deliver clean mobility and connected customer experiences,” Chris Feuell, CEO of the Chrysler brand, said in a news release.
Feuell also said that Chrysler plans to show the new Airflow concept vehicle at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which will give a view into Chrysler’s future design plans and how the brand will be remaking itself, Reuters reported.
“We are completely transforming the portfolio for Chrysler between 2025 and 2028, and beyond,” Feuell said.
The name Airflow refers back to the 1930s when Chrysler released a sleek and popular sedan.
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While Chrysler will be one of the first brands to make this change, there are also plans to make Alfa Romeo, one of Stellantis’ other brands, all electric in North American by 2027, Reuters reported.
Chrysler, however, will be undergoing a complete rebranding through its efforts. The company, in recent years, has not lived up to what it used to be in the early 2000s.
Last year, Chrysler sold over 115,000 vehicles last year in the U.S. Compared to the 650,000 vehicles it sold in 2005, it’s apparent why Chrysler needs a bit of a makeover. Producing sleek, new EVs may be the best way to do that.
Meanwhile, Stellantis’ overall goal for electric vehicles will target a large share of the auto markets in both Europe and the U.S. to be low-emission vehicles.
Reuters reported that this new plan could change “more than 70% of sales in Europe and over 40% in the United States to be low-emission vehicles — either battery or hybrid electric — by 2030.”
This is all part of the bigger, industry-wide trend to produce battery-powered and electric vehicles. Consumer Reports predicted that hundreds of new EV models from different manufacturers will start populating the market by 2024.
“These more affordable models have the potential to sway a significant percentage of the car-buying public toward buying an EV with their efficiency, performance, and lower ownership costs,” Gabe Shenhar, the associate director of Consumer Reports’ Auto Test Center, said.
Chrysler is not the only North American brand on the path to producing more EVs. Consumer Reports also listed that Ford, BMW, Honda, Toyota, Jaguar, Volvo, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and more are also in the lineup to produce electric vehicles.
With nearly all major automakers jumping on the EV bandwagon, Chrysler will have stiff competition.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
